phone companies went to court and blocked backup power rules proposed after hurricane katrina. a fomer f-c-c executive tells bloomberg news, sandy may get washington moving on this again. the new c-e-o of chicago public schools has exactly one month, by law, to announce which schools will be shut-down or consolidated. the city has 681 schools. barbara byrd-bennett says 40 percent of them are under- utilized, and 20 percent are more than half empty. she believes it's key to listen to parents during the process of choosing which schools to close or combine. the chicago teachers' union says it's skeptical, but hopeful, c- p-s will listen to the community. some parents and community leaders are upset about a plan to convert a northwest side middle school into a marine academy. alderman roberto maldonado is proposing to convert ames middle school in logan square into a marine academy for seventh through 12-graders. the proposal would make ames the first military middle school in chicago and first neighborhood school to go military. it means students would have to wear the marine uni